Anchoring system for a structure carried by a vehicle supporting heavy bodies

ABSTRACT

A vehicle which is intended to carry heavy movable bodies such as a radar turret or missile launching ramps, should be anchored to the ground so that a precise horizontality of the bodies is obtained. Although the vehicle itself is provided with an anchoring device, the stability and horizontality required are accomplished to a higher degree by providing the vehicle with a particular rigid structure having its own anchoring system independent of that of the vehicle. This structure consists of an assembly of members substantially in the form of a cube having substantially vertical edges. The upper face of this cube is adapted to support on four points the heavy movable body. The particular anchoring system of the structure consists of three supporting members in the form of the hydraulic type jacks. Two of these jacks are fixed to two adjacent vertical edges of the cube and the third one to the vertical face opposite these vertical edges. Furthermore a better rigidity is obtained by extending the structure to the external dimensions of the vehicle and reinforcing the lateral panels of the structure. The anchoring jacks are provided with locking jaws for holding them stationary at any point of their travel.

[ June 28, 1974 United States Patent Neuers [57 ABSTRACT A vehicle whichis intended to carry heavy movable ANCHORING SYSTEM FOR A STRUCTURECARRIED BY A VEHICLE SUPPORTING HEAVY BODIES Inventor: Lucien Neuers,Paris, France bodies such as a radar turret or missile launching ramps,should be anchored to the ground so that a [731 Assignee: Thomson-CSF,Paris, France precise horizontality of the bodies is obtained. Al-

22 Filed: June 9,1972

21 Appl. No.: 261,321

though the vehicle itself is provided with an anchoring device, thestability and horizontality required are accomplished to a higher degreeby providing the vehicle with a particular rigid structure having itsown anl l Foreign Application Priority Data choring system independentof that of the vehicle.

June 11, 1971 71-21333 This structure consists of an assembly of memberssubstantially in the form of a cube having substantially vertical edges.The upper face of this cube is adapted to support on four points theheavy movable body. The particular anchoring system of the structureconsists of three supporting members in the form of the hydraulic typejacks. Two of these jacks are fixed References Cited UNITED STATESPATENTS to two adjacent vertical edges of the cube and the third one tothe vertical face opposite these vertical edges.

1,851,148 Barnes................................ $329,105 Furthermore abetter rigidity is obtained by extending 356ml 1 the structure to theexternal dimensions of the vehicle and reinforcing the lateral panels ofthe structure. The anchoring jacks are provided with locking jaws 248/188.2 X I FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Switzerland...)....

for holding them stationary at any point of their travel.

" 6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures Primary Examiner-William H. SchultzAttorney, Agent, or FirmEdwin E. Greigg PATENTED JUH 2 8 I974 SHEET 2 BF4 ANCHORING SYSTEM FOR A STRUCTURE CARRIED BY A VEHICLE SUPPORTING HEAVYBODIES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention concerns asystem for anchoring to the ground and levelling for vehicles equippedwith units requiring high platform stability with a precisehorizontality and vehicles provided with sucha systern.

Vehicles equipped with special units such as hoisting or boringapparatus, are provided as it is known,'with anchoring jacks with impartthereto the stability required for their operation. However, they take arelatively long time to place in position and the platform horizontalityachieved thereby is of the order of a degree at best.

Thev units equipping the vehicles according to the invention are muchmore exacting as concerns both the time required for bringing intoaction and the precision of the horizontality of the platform whichsupports them. It indeed concerns units capable of being teleaimed suchas radar antennas which receive or emit aiming instructions in the formof angles located with respect to the vehicle itself. It thus is to beunderstood that it is necessary for the vehicle to have an attitudewhich is as near as possible to the horizontal and above all to maintainthis attitude with a precision higher than the precision required foraiming or laying. The precision of platform horizontality to bemaintained is of the order of a twentieth of a degree, irrespective ofthe tilting torques applied to the vehicle by the moving mass in thecourse of aiming.

OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the invention toprovide an anchoring system which maybe put rapidly in a'supportingposition so as to afford a precise horizontality and ensure very highplatform rigidity and stability.

The units capable of being aimed or laid are mounted on turrets orcarriages movable about at least two orthogonal axes which are usuallyvertical and horizontal. They are, for example, radar antennas andlaunching ramps for missiles controlled by radars. In the case oflaunching ramps, the launching accelerations are great and produceconsiderable tilting forces on the bases of the turrets which deform thevery structure of the vehicle and thus result in aiming errors.

The turrets are conventionally mounted on bases connected to theplatform at four fixed points. The platform constituted by the vehicleitself bears on the ground at three fixed points determined by the jacksin the supporting position. The number of three fixed points is imposedby the need to achieve a precise adjustment of the horizontality of theplatform and this requires solving the problem of a connection which isas rigid as possible between the three support points of the platformand the four fixing points of the turret without overloading the vehicleby a structure having a prohibitive weight. Further, in order to alloweasy access to the devices placed inside the vehicle it is important toavoid any obstructive framework between the jacks.

According to one feature of the invention, this rigid structure isapproximately a cube having vertical edges with the turret being fixedto the four upper corners,

two jacks being fixed along two vertical edges at at least two points inthe vicinity of the tops and the third jack being fixed along theopposite vertical face at at least two points in the vicinity of theupper and lower edges of this face, the vertical faces perpendicular tothe face to which the third jack is connected being provided with areinforcement acting against deformations.

The rapid adjustment of the horizontality requires that the jacks behydraulic and controlled individually. Further, their locking systemmust be such that it is operative for all the positions of the jacks.

According to another feature of the invention, the jacks are hydraulicand providedwith clamping jaws which exert a force through a block on asmooth portion of the sliding part so as to ensure a locking in allpositions of the jacks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Further features will be apparent inthe course of the ensuing description of one embodiment with referenceto the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a simplified diagrammatic perspective view of a rigidstructure for supporting the turret;

FIG. 2 is a diagram "in plan of another preferred em bodiment of astructure according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the structure of FIG. 2 as viewed fromthe front part of the vehicle;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the structure of FIG. 2 as viewed fromthe rear part of the vehicle, and

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a stabilising jack and its control.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In order to explain the embodiment of thestructure and to examine the means for avoiding its deformation therehas been shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1 the connection of a threepoint fixation (the jacks) to a four point fixation (the four comers ofthe base of the turret). I I

FIG. 1 shows a cube comprising 12 side members. The upper quadrilateralABCD has four gussets l welded to the side members. The gussets 1receive the four fixing points of the base of'the turret. Two jacks 2and 3 are fixed along the edges AE and DH and bear against the ground bytheir respective shoes. The third jack 4 is fixed midway along the sideBCFG at at least two points, namely an upper point and a lower point.

It can be seen that if the turret exerts on this structure a torquewhose axis is represented by the horizontal arrow, it will have atendency to twist and to assume a shape indicated by the dotted line.The lateral sides ABEF and CDGH will deform whereas the side BCFG willremain substantially undeformed but will have turned on itself at BC'FGand the jack 4 will be correspondingly inclined. The shoes of the jacksare fixed to the ground and the inclination of the jack 4 will apply abending force on the jacks 2 and 3 and tend to cause them to remainparallel therewith. The platform for fixing the turret A B C D is thusdeformed, warped, and is liable to damage the aiming devices and, inaddition, an aiming error is created.

In order to avoid these drawbacks the lateral sides A B E F and C D G H,which have a tendency to deform in the form of a parallelogram, areprovided with reinforcing means such as metal sheets stiffened bycrossble and the upper side no longer has a tendency to warp. However,with the exception of the reinforced lateral sides no reinforcingelement obstructs the other sides, in particlular the side A D E Hbetween the jacks.

The dimension of the upper side is adaptedto that of the base of theturret but it is advantageous to arrange that the jacks be located asfar apart as possible so as to afford a support polygon which is aslarge as possible compatible which the dimensions of the vehicle.

For these purposes, the lateral jacks 2 and 3 are fixed to extensions ofthe side members AD and EH. The face ABEF .and CDGH are lined withparallel sides. FIG. 2 shows in projection the upper side of thestructure. There can be seen the side ABCD with the fixing gussets ofthe base of the turret. An identical structure is located below thelatter. The edge AD (and the edge HE which is vertically below) isextended to the edge of vehicle at Al and DJ. The lateral jacks 2 and 3are fixed to these extensions in the upper part (hidden in the figure).Likewise, the side member BC (and the corresponding lower side member)is extended at BK and CL to the edge of thevehicle. As opposed to theforegoing structure the vertical sides corresponding to the upper edgesAB and CD are not reinforced but the vertical sides corresponding to theedges IK and JL are.

By these means, the structure in the form of a cube, the upper side ABCDof which is seen, is rendered rigid in a manner still more effectivethan in the foregoing arrangement where it was the sides AB and CD whichwere reinforced, since for a given torque applied by the turret to thestructure, on one hand, the effect on the side J L and [K the mostremote from the centre will be less than on' thesides AB and CD and, onthe other hand, for a given deformation of the reinforced sides,

the deformation of the base of the turret will be the smaller as thesesides are more remote, that is to say, it will be less for a deformationof the sides IK and JL than for the same deformation of the sides AB andCD.

It can be seen that this structure is more rigid than that describedpreviously and that for a given rigidity, the gauge of the materialsemployed may be smaller and consequently the assembly may be lightened.

The jack 4 is fixed to a side MN, which is transverse to the extensionof the side members AB and CD and the corresponding lower side memberwithout it being necessary specially to stiffen by cross-pieces thevertical sides corresponding to the edges BC or MN.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are perspective views of the center structure of thevehicle from the front (FIG. 3) and from the rear (FIG. 4) in which areseen the components diagrammatically shown in FIG. 1 and 2.

There are fourupper side members 5,6,7 and 8 at the intersection ofwhich are fixed gussets l on which bears the base of the turret (notshown). Two side members 9 and 10 are fixed to the ends of the sidemembers 7 and 8 and constitude the outer edge of the vehicle. Thelongitudinal side members 5 and 6 are extended rearwardly beyond thetransverse side member 7 to a point in vertical alignment with the rearwheels of the vehicle where they are interconnected by a transverse sidemember 11. An assembly of side members having the same relativedispositions is placed below their corresponding upper members to whichthey are connected by vertical side members. The side members 5 and 6and their lower corresponding side members are extended forwardly wherethey are connected to the front set of wheels (not shown) and to asupport for the rear set of wheels (not shown) of a vehicle.

The lateral jacks 2 and 3 are respectively fixed to the side members 8and 9, on one hand, and 8 and 10, on the other, and to the correspondinglower side members. The axial jack 4 is fixed to the middle of thetransverse side member or strut 11 and-to a support 12 for the rearwheel axle of the vehicle. The corss-pieces l3 and 14 reinforce theouter sides constituted by metal The general arrangement of thisstructure affords maximum rigidity for minimum weight. Further, in 7order to gain still further inweight and volume, the side members areinthe form of hollow girders and they are employed either for thepassage of cables or for the circulation of air conditioning air.Further, not that no framework is located between the jacks inside thevehicle and that in particular'access between the two front jacks iscompletely free.

The jacks are of the hydraulic double-acting type having a small faceand a large face arranged in such manner that supply of fluid to thelarge face corresponds to the outer position in which the vehicle israised (small face very small relative to the large face). They arelocked in position in the absence of pressure. FIG. 5 shows adiagrammatic sectional view of a jack and its control. It comprises aslide 17 defining two chambers one of which, 19, has a large face andthe other 20 a small face separated by a piston and its rod 18 which isfixed to thestructure of the chassis 21. The jack is provided with ashoe 22 adapted to bear against and anchor in the ground. Two clampingjaws 23 and 24 bear against a smooth portion of the moving partconstituted by the slide 17. It must be understood that a higher numberof clamping jaws may be positioned between the jaws 23 and 24 in orderto increase the locking of the jack if necessary. These jaws are held inbearing relation to the smooth part of the slide 17 by an arrangement ofresiliently yieldable washers diagrammatically represented by a spring26 which bears against the piston 25 of the jaws. The locking jaws areintegral with the structure 21 of the vehicle.

The locking jaws prevent the jacks from moving out or in. They enhancethe rigidityof the assembly since.

there is no longer any lateral play in the locked position.

The at rest position of the jaws is the locking position. They areunlocked by the supply of pressure so that when the units carried by thevehicle are in permanent operation it is unnecessary to employfluid-under pressure. They bear against asmooth portion of the slidingpart, that is to say, the latter can be locked in all positions and notonly in a certain number of predetermined positions; the precision ofthe horizontality is therefore improved.

To control the jacks, the small-face chambers 20 are permanentlyconnected to the source 27 of fluid at high pressure. This source alsosupplies the valve 28 for actuating the jack and the valve 29 foractuating the jaws. The large-face chamber 19 of the jack and thecylinders of the jaws are respectively connected to the valves 28 and29. The diagram in FIG. 5 shows that the centre part of the the vehiclestationary and the engine running so as tov put the fluid underpressure, the jacks are unlocked by actuating the valve 29. The lattermay either be provided for each jack or be common to all three. Thejacks being unlocked by compression of the resiliently yieldable devices26 bearing against the slide 17, they are controlled individually by theoperator by means of the valves 28 pertaining thereto. A level placed toone side of the valves enables the operator to act on the jack valves insuch manner as to reach the horizontal position rapidly. With the leveltransverse to the axis of the vehicle, the lateral (front) jacks areadjusted and with the level'placed longitudinally, the rear jack is thenextended so as to complete the adjustement of the horizontality. As soonas the jacks have been adjusted, they are locked by withdrawing thepressure'by means of the valve or valves 29.

There has just been described a new type of a special vehicle which isequipped with units requiring high platform stability and a rapidpositioning and whose structure although particularly rigid, leaves theinterior free for accomodating electronic equipment around which it isstill possible to move and which can be stabilized with a period of timeof the order of 1 minute.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the embodiment described andshown which was given solely by way of example.

What is claimed is:

1. A system for anchoring a rigid and stable structure carried by avehicle to ground, said structure being adapted to support heavy bodieswhich are'movable about two substantially orthogonal axes and which mayexert forces on said structure as a result of high torque, accelerationsand decelerations, said structure comprising, in combination: sidemembers disposed so as to constitute substantially a cube, said cubehaving a substantially horizontal face for supporting said heavy bodyfixed by four points thereon; horizontal extensions extending outwardlyfrom edges of said cube; supplemental side members positioned parallelto respective ones of the first said side members of said cube, andexterior thereto thereby .providing a complete rigid structuredimensioned so as to match with dimensions of said vehicle; and at leastthree anchoring means in the form of jacks, fixed to said supplementalside members of said complete rigid structure, two of said jacks beingfixed to two vertical edges of said complete rigid structure, the thirdjack being fixed along the middle of a vertical supplemental side memberopposed to those edges of said complete rigid structure to which saidtwo jacks are fixed, an d all of said jacks being positioned atrespective horizontal distances from all of said four points. v

2. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said vehicle has a front partwith a driver station and a rear part with a rear axle support, the saidtwo of said jacks being laterally located in the front part of saidvehicle and said third jack of said jacks being fixed to a rearsupplemental side member of said complete rigid structure,

are hydraulic jacks.

1. A system for anchoring a rigid and stable structure carried by avehicle to ground, said structure being adapted to support heavy bodieswhich are movable about two substantially orthogonal axes and which mayexert forces on said structure as a result of high torque, accelerationsand decelerations, said structure comprising, in combination: sidemembers disposed so as to constitute substantially a cube, said cubehaving a substantially horizontal face for supporting said heavy bodyfixed by four points thereon; horizontal extensions extending outwardlyfrom edges of said cube; supplemental side members positioned parallelto respective ones of the first said side members of said cube, andexterior thereto thereby providing a complete rigid structuredimensioned so as to match with dimensions of said vehicle; and at leastthree anchoring means in the form of jacks, fixed to said supplementalside members of said complete rigid structure, two of said jacks beingfixed to two vertical edges of said complete rigid structure, the thirdjack being fixed along the middle of a vertical supplemental side memberopposed to those edges of said complete rigid structure to which saidtwo jacks are fixed, and all of said jacks being positioned atrespective horizontal distances from all of said four points.
 2. Asystem as claimed in claim 1, wherein said vehicle has a front part witha driver station and a rear part with a rear axle support, the said twoof said jacks being laterally located in the front part of said vehicleand said third jack of said jacks being fixed to a rear supplementalside member of said complete rigid structure, this particularsupplemental side member being further connected to said rear axlesupport.
 3. A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein substantially allspace between said laterally located jacks is substantially free therebypermitting easy access to said driver station.
 4. A system as claimed inclaim 1, wherein said jacks are hydraulic jacks.
 5. A system as claimedin claim 2, wherein said jacks are hydraulic jacks.
 6. A system asclaimed in claim 3, wherein said jacks are hydraulic jacks.